Strategic thinking of President Ilham Aliyev leads whole S. Caucasus towards prosperity - ECIPE
By Trend
The strategic thinking of President Ilham Aliyev has led Azerbaijan towards making significant steps to restore its territorial integrity, and also carrying on with reviving the liberated lands through significant development projects for the benefit of the whole region, Tengiz Pkhaladze, a non-resident senior fellow at the European Center for International Political Economy (ECIPE), told Trend.
“Such steps that lead to achievements of this scale do not happen accidentally. President Ilham Aliyev’s strategic vision towards the country’s development has proved itself to be successful,” he said.
What Azerbaijan demonstrates today to the international community through the large-scale infrastructure projects are the economic possibilities that these lands will provide to the wider region. However, without the peace deal, the region would not be able to flourish properly, the expert added.
“Today we start to see actual steps towards the peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia. For example, one of the latest events - a very significant meeting between Azerbaijani FM Jeyhun Bayramov and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan held at the initiative of Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington DC - demonstrated that the process finally heads in the right direction,” he said.
According to the expert, it is noteworthy that the international community actively participates in assisting the sides in achieving the peace deal in the shortest possible time. For example, Turkiye, the EU, or the US, are proving their support through practical steps.
Pkhaladze pointed out that if Armenia finally realizes that finding common ground with Azerbaijan will only work for its own benefit, everyone will see those huge economic cooperation opportunities for all countries in the wider region.
“I believe today Armenian officials have enough political will to lead the country in the right direction, meaning to sign the peace deal with Azerbaijan. This is not an easy process, but the engagement of the international supporters, which is Turkiye, the EU, and the US, will be important on the way. Everyone understands that peace in the South Caucasus is absolutely essential for the implementation of the large-scale energy, or transport projects, for instance, in the wider region,” he added.
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